Former state worker wants her job back after winning retaliation claim

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 10:32 AM

Dorothea Polk, who was fired from her position as a clerk at the Iowa Workforce Development about two months after filing a discrimination complaint, wants her job back. A Polk County jury awarded $130,000 to Polk, who is African American, after hearing testimony from more than a dozen witnesses during an 11-day trial. The verdict and award included damages for pain and suffering as well as back pay and benefits, but specified no future pay and benefits. Her attorneys, Thomas Newkirk and Leonard Bates, asked the court to reinstate Polk and to provide other possible relief, including approving a plan of corrective action. That plan could involve retraining of workforce development and Department of Administrative Services employees on the Iowa administrative code as well as on affirmative action and the state's anti-discrimination policy. It also could try to correct the perception and policy that state agencies do not immediately investigate complaints filed by employees with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, according to a release. The Polk case is the first of four that allege race discrimination and retaliation.